4 out of 5

Directed by: Richard Donner

Ah, the classics.  I’m going to have to preface and admit that this gets a star for nostalgia, as the silly bits that were silly when I was young are even sillier now.  So it’s possible in reality I give this three stars, but then frequently-rewatched-Scrooged younger me kicks me in my old man withered padiddles.

‘Scrooged’ is one of those off-kilter darkly comedic mash-ups that seemed to happen so easily in the 80s and 90s, this time combining the fantasy of a Christmas Miracle film – the story of Scrooge, if’n the title wasn’t a tip-off – with a bit more of a focus on satire and horror… until the film succumbs to its inspiration and launches into uncomfortable cheesiness.  But we generally ignore this in holiday flicks because, I guess, that’s what they’re supposed to do.  Director Richard Donner wrings the most from his imaginative Goonies mindset and blends it with a lovable Bill Murray to make the setup of a modern day Scrooge – Frank Cross, heartless programming executive – enjoyably cheeky and full of broad nods to our always burgeoning viewership love for sex and violence, even during the holidays.  As the initial premise unfolds, Cross’ station putting on a live production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ while Cross himself is visited by the three ghosts, you can’t help but fall for Murray’s bland responses and double-takes to the oddity that begins to unfold around him, brought about with fun, big budgetry zeal by Donner and a constantly cleverly snarking script and fun background performances from the side characters and extras.  But the film admittedly blows a lot of its giddiness with this introduction, the tone purposefully taking a more muted stance during ‘the ghost of Christmas present’ so that we may be properly moved by the overly dramatic future.  Even as a kid watching this flick I remember somewhat loathing this portion, coasting until we got to see Death’s innards, because at least then the visuals get funky once more… and then it’s just a short leap to Murray in zany happy mode, bringing back some yuks, and an uncomfortable sing-along that’s close enough to the credits to tune out.  ‘Scrooged,’ in other words, is totally front-loaded with its fun, but it drops enough visual or scripting gems along the way to keep us smiling when the cleverness wears thin, leveraging the appeal of its lead and confidence of its director to make us say ‘aw shucks’ when it gets all ‘god bless everyone’ on us.